How nice would it be if you no longer needed passwords to log in? It really can be done. Passwords are currently the most common way of logging in, but it's not the only way anymore! Today we take you through the passwordless story of Lime Networks.
How we came up with this
Then you come back after a well-deserved holiday and you can't remember your password. Or you have a super easy password and are at risk of being hacked. Or you've just set up LastPass but can't get all your passwords out of the password vault. Super annoying. Combine this with tricky passwords like 223V!FGA4xk55crz and you soon get that password written down somewhere. We want to avoid this. That is why we decided to go passwordless, i.e. to log in without a password but in an alternative, more secure way.
What is passwordless?
If you don't log in with a password, then how do you log in? Passwordless access consists of a number of building blocks that allow you to log in to your workplace and applications. Ease of use and modern, high security standards are thus combined to make logging in user-friendly, simple and secure. Passwordless can be done in several ways, for example by using a physical key like YubiKey, a virtual key like the Microsoft Authenticator app, or biometrics like a fingerprint. It all sounds very James Bond and complicated, but we like to make it simple for you.
We ourselves use the YubiKey and Microsoft Authenticator app. The YubiKey is a universal key that can also be used outside one's own organisation, such as in partner organisations. An additional advantage is that the physical key provides better security for our partners and customers. Microsoft offers the option of linking these keys to Office 365 and Azure, so that you only need to enter the USB key in the pc plus a self-chosen pincode. The Microsoft Authenticator app works a little differently. When you log in, Microsoft asks you to click a number within the app.
Why passwordless is much better than regular passwords
- Easier! No more 10 accounts for 10 applications. Much easier
- More efficient! No more MFA keys, no more hassle with lost or changed passwords, no more time spent looking up or setting up apps and passwords, and so on. Saves a lot of time at the end of the day.
- Safer! No more problems with loose passwords. More than 80% of data leaks and/or hacks are caused by bad passwords and phishing. Prevent this!
- Faster! Never type in a user name and password again
- More refreshing! No more annoying password changes
Integration with other apps
You may have heard of the term "single-sign-on". In Microsoft's case, it means that when you sign in to your Office 365, you're also automatically signed in to the applications. So when you're logged into Microsoft Teams, you're also automatically logged into Microsoft Planner and Microsoft To Do. Handy, because now you don't need 10 accounts anymore.
One more complicated term and then we will stop: identity provider. This is a central location where your username and password are stored. Most modern (web) applications have the ability to connect to an identity provider. The beauty of Office 365 is that it makes the identity provider available to other applications. The outcome? With your Office 365 username, password and MFA, you can log in to any application.
Now we hear you think: is that safe and convenient? Yes, the security of such a 'single-sign-on' lies precisely in the power that the management system behind it gives you. For example, you can set it up so that employees can only log on and use their applications from a managed workstation or from an office location. Hackers and malicious persons can therefore not log in. Imagine, for example, that a user is in Rotterdam but someone suddenly tries to log in from New York. The system notices this and determines that this is not possible; the user is after all in Rotterdam, because that is where they logged in earlier. The login from New York is blocked and the world is saved.
5x frequently asked questions
Is it really safer?
We understand that you might be a little apprehensive. After all, if you don't need a password, can't anyone log in with your data? This is not the case, and passwordless login is really safer than just logging in with a password. This is because, as we explained above, it is possible to set it to only log in from a certain location or device.
If you go completely passwordless, it also means that phishing has no chance at all. Users no longer have a username and password to give away.
But I already use MFA, don't I?
MFA (Multi Factor Authenticator) is great and we certainly support it. But this is the future. With MFA you indeed log in with an extra app and this way you bring an extra layer on the security. A hacker can't use your username and password without having access to the Microsoft Authenticator app, your fingerprint, face scan or other means of login. The downside is that MFA is not as user-friendly. You always need that extra app and it takes extra time. With passwordless, this is no longer an issue.
But wasn't LastPass super secure?
LastPass is a password vault where you only have to remember your master password and from there you can store passwords and have them filled in. A password generated by LastPass (for example: %A2r!4F!60aV5pad) is indeed a lot safer than a password like Bunny123! or Dorpsstraat*15 or il0veIT4ever. That's for sure. But... it still involves a password, namely your master password. And that is exactly what we want to prevent.
How will you help me?
Demonstration: we show our refreshing approach
Plan of approach: we examine whether you can go passwordless and where not
Inform employees: we help your employees understand what is going to happen
Implementation: we go all the way!
Isn't this all too modern for me?
It may still sound a bit abracadabra or secretly a bit unsafe. We totally understand. But it is the future of authentication and there will come a day when you can't escape it. So it is best to be well informed and prepared. And don't worry, because we are here for you. We like to make this simple, understandable and fun for you.
Did this blog make you interested in passwordless or single-sign-on (SSO)? Our helpdesk is always ready to help you, please contact us at 010-2121806.
Frequently asked questions about modern working
Is your question not listed? 1 email or 1 phone call is enough to get it answered. 010-2121806 | info@limenetworks.nl
Sure. Office 365 has many techniques that provide security for accessing, modifying or sharing data. Steering and controlling these processes are also part of the ecosystem for regulatory compliance. Want to know more about this or see how it works? Feel free to call us for an appointment.
Through engagement and responsibility. By empowering you to work with engagement and responsibility, barriers to working together are reduced or eliminated. By including people in the planning, changes and what is possible, you give energy instead of change. We help you with the process and involving people/employees in modern collaboration. This way you let technology work for you and not against you. This shifts you from 'having to work together' to 'being able to work together efficiently'.
Cooperation is something that people do, not technology. Modern Work is not about people, but about removing the barriers that technology creates or used to create. By removing these barriers, you can really work together efficiently. So see Modern Working as a tool and especially as a catalyst.
Having a single hub/application allows you to communicate, work with data and applications as a team. Adding communication to your data makes for true collaboration - wherever you are in the world and at any time. No barriers. All you need is a working internet connection.
Yes! Invite people to read files or even participate in creating the content. You can also invite external parties in Teams and/or Channels to become part of your productivity. You can determine what they can do in your environment (read, create, take control). As a company, you can influence whether or not you want this. In the Office 365 Compliance overview you can see which data is available to whom.
You can be an excellent team player by working in Outlook, Word, Excel and all your business applications. You don't bother anyone and you're productive. However, if you want to collaborate and work more efficiently with colleagues and/or externals, then working in Microsoft Teams is fine, convenient and enjoyable. You can even do that online without working on your own PC or device. Nothing has to.
First of all, we help you with information about what it is, how it can work for you and we show you how it works in practice. With thorough planning, we help you with the technology and give you direction and concrete help on how to start and staff with change. After that, we help you with daily support for questions, breakdowns and changes.
Microsoft Teams is an application that is part of Office 365. You can use it to communicate (chat, audio, video), access your business (team) data and connect to other Office 365 applications. You can also connect to all kinds of external (cloud) applications, such as Trello, Asana, CRM, etc: Trello, Asana, CRM, PowerBI, Jira, and so on. Microsoft Teams is a hub for your daily work, communication and collaboration with others.
This is a cloud service provided by Microsoft. You can make use of various services and products depending on your subscription. The most well-known are:
- Office Suite (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint etc.) on your pc, Mobile/Tablet or online
- Exchange mailbox online from 50-100GB
- 1TB of storage for company data (per company) via SharePoint
- OneDrive for Business with 1TB storage per person for private use and pc backup
- Microsoft Teams for collaboration (chat, audio/video conferencing) and as a hub for data, applications and communication between various Office 365 components and external (cloud) software/services.
- Various online Apps for better collaboration and productivity: Planner, OneNote, To-Do, Stream, Sway and many more
- Microsoft Power Platform. Power Automate: automate tasks across all Office 365 components without programming skills
- PowerApps: build your own applications online to extend and customise Office 365 or to develop complete applications or connections to existing applications
Microsoft Teams is an application that is part of Office 365. You can use it to communicate (chat, audio, video), access your business (team) data and connect to other Office 365 applications. In addition, you can connect to all kinds of external (cloud) applications such as, for example: Trello, Asana, CRM, PowerBI, Jira, etc. Microsoft Teams is thus a gathering place for your daily work, communication and collaboration with others.
Where should we start? It is of course very personal, but to name the core you will mainly work together and more efficiently. You work together in Teams, where you work with data, communication, applications and information from various sources. You'll work more efficiently because you can work anywhere, on your workstation or mobile phone. With the addition of Microsoft Teams, you see that many sources of information come together in one ecosystem. With Office 365, you have a platform with many applications (in addition to the standard Office Suite that we are all familiar with) that give your productivity a boost because they directly affect your data and way of working. Call us for a demo and we will show you what it looks like in practice.
Backup is an old-fashioned limited way of securing your data. You can do much better. Let your cloud service fulfil this role. Think version control (see for yourself what happens to documents and/or data), retention (go back in time and secure data as it once was) or retaining transaction-based data about how you work.
If you work in the cloud, then that is the basis for your data. With Office 365, for example, your data is safe in the cloud at Microsoft. Think of Azure, Microsoft's cloud platform. Think also of SharePoint (don't worry... it's only used as storage... you don't have to work with it) and OneDrive to make your data available everywhere.
Employees and change... that's always something to think about. With a transition to Modern Working, we include this in our working method. Through customer engagement, we take you and your employees along in the changes. With e-mails, relevant information and training, we ensure that everyone knows what is going to happen. By giving employees more responsibility over the way they work and letting them work in teams, a connection is quickly created. You could almost say that benefits are the engine of success. If you have employees who don't want all this, of course you can. You can always keep working in the 'old' way with your data, but then you miss all the benefits.
No. It's not about cloud or servers, it's about an idea of working. We do know from experience that working in the cloud is much easier. In fact, maintaining a server park with all the peripheral issues (uptime, security, backups, continuity, availability etc) is much more expensive. By using Office 365 and other Office 365 applications, for example, you can quickly make a fresh start.
Yes. With "secure by design," working safely is paramount at Lime Networks. We ensure that your data is secure (including in the cloud) and that the path to your data is also secure. You don't have to worry about the availability and integrity of your data. With retention and versioning of data, you can make mistakes without impacting the organization.
Once the background is in place, you're ready to go. Whether you work on your Apple laptop in a coffee shop, on your iPad at home or with a Microsoft workstation in the office. You can work with virtually any solution anywhere. That is the essence of modern working. No complicated security. It is simple and cleverly arranged. Employees can get to work without any problems and do not have to worry about security or data. With an internet connection, you can work immediately, even if you are not working on your own pc.
That depends very much on the chosen solution and whether you are already working with certain solutions. As an example: if you already work with Office 365, then you already have a licence that allows you to work in a modern way. So in fact, it costs nothing. Of course, you need to set up and secure everything, engage your staff and have a training course at the office (1 to 2 hours) for a fresh start. The costs of this are still manageable. Especially when you see how much more effective you will be working together with your colleagues! Oh yes; once you have started, we are there for you with answers and help for your questions and problems. Our skilled helpdesk is always ready for you.
Actually, Modern Work is the next step in efficient cooperation. In fact, every organisation is ready for it. Of course, we are happy to explain the effect on your organisation and give you customised advice - whether you work in production, have a consultancy firm or are in financial services.
Collaborate anywhere, anytime, without technical limitations.
